England and Croatia<\/a>, which are separated by about 900 miles.\u00a0<\/p>\nSpain and Portugal are next-door neighbors on the Iberian Peninsula, separate sovereign nations since the Feb. 13, 1668, signing of the Treaty of Lisbon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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And of course both countries are crazy about soccer, as evidenced by Monday\u2019s at times deafening sellout crowd and the multitudes in Spain and\u00a0Portugal who anxiously watched every second.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was the seventh time they have met in World Cup play, following\u00a01934 (Spain won both meetings), 1950 (Spain won in qualifying and the teams tied the other match), 2010 (Spain won 1-0 in the round of 16) and 2018\u2019s group stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In that last meeting, the teams tied 3-3, with Ronaldo pulling off a hat trick.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked up to him,\u201d said Spain\u2019s Rodri, who was selected as most valuable player Monday. \u201cHe is a fellow professional. He always wanted to be the best. I think it\u2019s incredible, an example for all the generations to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s game was billed as a handing off of the torch\u00a0\u2014 from Ronaldo to young Spanish star Lamine Yamal, who turns 19 on July 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Spain forward Lamine Yamal (19) greets Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo (7) after a World Cup round of 16 soccer match, Monday, July 6, 2026, in Arlington. Spain defeated Portugal 1-0.<\/p>\n
El\u00edas Valverde II\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
While Spain moves on in this World Cup,\u00a0Yamal is viewed as a star for multiple World Cups to come\u00a0\u2014 including 2030, when Spain, Portugal and Morocco will serve as tri-hosts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCompletely different players,\u201d Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said when asked to compare Ronaldo and Yamal. \u201cI think you\u2019re talking about a very, very young player who shows he\u2019s capable of carrying the pressure of the whole team and make things happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re talking about an iconic figure of the game itself,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cThe longevity that he has, it speaks for itself. Complete different positions, I think they can share that they got that capacity to affect the moments that they win games, but they are completely, completely in different moments of their careers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Ronaldo finishes his Portugal national team career with 146 goals in 233 appearances in 23 years\u00a0\u2014 that includes three goals in five games of this World Cup. \u00a0<\/p>\n
His goal against Croatia was the first he has recorded in a knockout game, and it made him the oldest player to record a knockout-stage goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo participate during a training session ahead of the team’s World Cup round of 16 soccer match against Spain on Sunday, July 5, 2026 in Dallas.<\/p>\n
Shafkat Anowar\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
After Sunday\u2019s practice at\u00a0SMU, Ronaldo went to AT&T Stadium, where he held his first news conference of this World Cup. He was in a reflective mood but also had some playful banter with reporters, some of whom have been tough on him through the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, you\u2019ve been trying to kill me for the past 23 years,\u201d he joked. \u201cBut you must have seen that this is not worthwhile. It\u2019s a waste of time. You try and try and try and try and try, and it\u2019s not worth it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Two-time World Cup champion Spain entered Monday\u2019s match as the favorite, a fact Ronaldo seemed to acknowledge as he considered the possibility that Monday might be his finale.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ll be honest. Whatever happens tomorrow, Cristiano will leave with a clear conscience,\u201d he said. \u201cNot 100%, but 1000%. Because I\u2019ve given everything in football. I don\u2019t need it, I have a good life, but it\u2019s about passion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI play football because I love it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo (7) smiles during the first half of a World Cup round of 16 soccer match against Spain, Monday, July 6, 2026, in Arlington.<\/p>\n
El\u00edas Valverde II\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Monday, he walked off the pitch for the last time for Portugal.\u00a0He never won a World Cup, but did lead Portugal to the 2016 European championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, that holds the same weight as a World Cup,\u201d he said. \u201cHonestly\u00a0\u2014 that\u2019s why I say this again\u00a0\u2014 I\u2019m leaving with peace of mind.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo (7l, left) walks away as Spain defenders Pedro Porro (12) and Pau Cubars\u00ed (22)…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":917881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,347,1596,358,325233,290085,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-917880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-america","tag-article","tag-dallas","tag-texas","tag-tp-att-stadium","tag-tp-world-cup","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116876942242132771","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}